Young Labour, Tory And SNP MPs Urge Youth To Reject Brexit ‘Dystopia’

BEN PRUCHNIE VIA GETTY IMAGES

A cross-party group of young MPs have urged young voters to reject the “dystopia” of Brexit.

With just two days to go until the country votes in the EU referendum, 16 Conservative, Labour and SNP MPs, mostly in their 20s and 30s, have signed a joint letter warning against the “angry, intolerant, limited, sepia-coloured” vision of the UK presented by Nigel Farage.

“The EU referendum is not just an economic choice, but a choice about what kind of country the United Kingdom is - and should be. A country of the future - open, socially liberal, tolerant and prosperous,” they write.

Signatories to the letter, which can be read in full below, include Labour shadow ministers Lisa Nandy and Luciana Berger, former Conservative Treasury minister Chloe Smith and SNP frontbencher Callum McCaig.

Young people are seen are more likely to vote in favour of EU membership on Thursday than older people.

The MPs from the three opposing parties write that while they disagree on most issues, they share a belief in EU membership.

“Young people could decide this vote. More have registered than ever before. We are the ones who have the most to gain if we stay in the EU and also the most to lose if we leave,” they write.

“We were all born after most other MPs. We did not grow up to re-fight old battles. We went into politics to shape the future. And while we debate most things fiercely across Parliament, we share a common view: that the best possible future for our generation is one inside the European Union.

“We don’t want to be ‘Generation Brexit’ - poorer, less connected to the outside world, and less able to change the global problems which affect the UK.”

Targeting younger voters, the MPs write that Brexit risks a recession that would hit 16- to 24-year-olds the hardest.

The EU, the MPs say, has led to cheaper to travel and cheaper phone calls. “Next the EU will make it cheaper to download films. Our generation is building its future on being connected,” they write.

“Working together is not always easy. It often brings problems and set-backs. In a group you don’t always get your way. But it’s better to try with other nations to jointly solve the problems of our age, and we often succeed. We prefer the advantages of membership to a ‘go-it-alone’, us-against-the-them dystopia.

“Let’s not turn our backs, temper our ambition or lower our sights. Our generation doesn’t recognise Britain as an inward-looking or isolated country.”

In a push to bring out the youth vote, former Labour leader Ed Miliband also released a video arguing the ‘Remain’ campaign was “future-orientated, positive optimistic idea”.


By Ned Simons.
Culled from Huffington Post.